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There are lots of articles on the health benefits of warm lemon water so this post acts as an overview of the main health benefits.

Warm lemon water health benefits

Aids digestion by flushing out unwanted materials and toxins from the body. This also cleanses your system.

Boosts your immune system because lemons are high in vitamin C and potassium.

Balances pH levels. In my opinion this is the ‘biggest seller’ for drinking lemon water because it removes the overall acidity of your body first thing in the morning. Uric acid in joints is also reduced which is the primary cause of pain and inflammation.

Clears skin due to its antioxidant properties which not only decreases wrinkles by helps fight free radical damage.

Breakfast and your heart

I have often found that after drinking lemon water I don’t feel hungry for a while but it is very important not to skip breakfast because a recent study has linked breakfast, eating something within a hour of waking up, with a healthy heart. So take breakfast about 15 minutes after taking your warm lemon water.

Healthy, long life

There are some really easy things you can do to your everyday life to allow you to live a healthier, happier and longer life. Changing your diet to eat more wholefoods, for instance, will allow your amazing body to be rewarded or going for 30 minute walks in the evenings will extend your life. Just like life can be hard at times these changes are not always easy to implement. For example, if you’re having a bad day a healthy home cooked meal and a long walk may be down your list but it is at these times whenever you have to work harder to actually live life.

Walking itself is a good way to reflect on life. It’s free, like life itself, and it gives you time to retune with your body. Listen to your breathing. Look at nature as you walk. Living in the moment actually helps life itself.

How to add whole foods to your diet

Fruit and vegetable salads

Fruit is naturally sweet, packed with lots of vitamins and minerals, and tastes lovely by itself. Try cutting up a few pieces of fruit in a bowl, you’ll love the sweetness first thing in the morning, or as a healthy snack.

If you’re having a lasagna, or some chips and burgers, add some vegetables to a salad. Cucumbers, onions and sweetcorn work really well with main meals.

Salads are a great and easy way to get whole-foods into your body.

Change some of your main meals

Try adding a homemade country vegetable soup, or a tasty stir-fry, into your main meal diet.

Add them to your favourite meals

Do you love that curry you make/buy? Add peas to it. Adding one of two vegetables is very easy to do.

Legumes

Things like chickpeas and lentils, for instance, are legumes and are considered whole foods. Some legumes require to be soaked in water for 8 hours before cooking, so they are not considered handy for quick cooking!

Having said that legumes are very easy to eat and are packed with fiber which helps maintain a healthy digestion system. Try adding legumes to Mexican food — it is a great combination. Once you do this you’ll become an expert at adding them to other cuisines.

Health benefits of whole-foods

Whole foods have been proven to lower bad cholesterol and maintain good cholesterol. This helps us have a strong heart and clear arteries/veins. Whole foods are rich in fibre which helps us maintain a healthy digestive system.

I would also argue that whole foods can improve your mood, outlook on life, concentration… You might want to start eating more of them.

For those of you who read this blog outside Europe (thanks for making this global!) you might have heard about the whole horse-meat scandal in Europe. If not, an explanation is given below.

Horse-meat is not bad for you

Some parts of Mainland Europe eat horse-meat happily whereas most people in the UK and Ireland see horse-meat as a ‘no go meat’ for culture reasons. Horses are seen as real pets and not as food. Culture is fascinating.

But the problem with horse-meat, in a nutshell, lies with the labels on foods. 100% beef burgers have up to 100% horse-meat in them. Horse’s get different medications, some of which can be harmful to humans, which need to be regulated. Having said that, some experts in the UK have said that a person would need to eat 500 grams of burgers a day to be infected.

You are what you eat

Although this saying is inaccurate (because you are what you digest) it got me thinking: we do not really know what is in our food. Government’s do not do enough to regulate the food industry. Why? Here are one, of many, reasons:

Next time you’re in the supermarket have a look at the content. Look at the amount of salt and sugar in our food. If the government really wanted to help with obesity and lifestyles they would get a tighter control on this stuff. You can run your body into the ground if you eat too much salt, or sugar. Some government’s do, however, offer guidelines but this does not reduce the volume of salt and sugar in our foods.

Food varies in price. How come lower quality food is mostly bad for you? Does this mean poorer people are more likely to suffer from health problems? This is not fair, yet this is the case.

What can I do about horse-meat?

You can’t do anything about the supermarkets and producers of these products. But you might want to consider getting stuff locally. If it’s local you have a greater chance of buying real products. Local produce is a little more expensive but you are likely to know where something has come from.

We really do not know what we eat. Although this is worrying, you should try to take as much control, on your part, as you can. One of the most important things to do is to cook your own sauce. Buy the ingredients yourself, get a lovely cookbook and knock yourself out. You can control lots of things this way — including salt and sugar. In fact, cooking from fresh ingredients allows you to have salt/sugar free meals.

Personally speaking, I cook from fresh ingredients. I find it relaxing, especially if I have coursework or exams. Don’t get me wrong, a cheeky chip is sometimes nice as a treat. But remember to enjoy your body. Love it, feed it with fresh (fruit and veg), tasty nutrients. Don’t overload it with rubbish. Salt, for example, will clog your arteries and will put a lot of strain on your heart because your body retains more water when there’s excess salt in your body.

Do you have anything else to add? How do you recommend a healthy life?

There have been many arguments about whether organic food is better for you, or if they are just the same as ‘normal’ fruits / vegetables — without the fuss and price tag.

A farmer’s perspective opens our insight

Organic farming is better for a farmer’s land. Although the certificate means very little because it does not necessarily mean there are vigorous tests / procedures to carry out (The New York Times).

Cheap food does not always mean profit margins: cheap food also allows farmers to feed poorer people because organic food is expensive.

Organic claims

Growing food in organic (natural) conditions is supposed to be good for the actual food (nutrients etc) as well as the environment. However, Vance & Muirhead found that organic food is not necessarily more environmentally friendly.

Organic food may taste better, but it is not better for you (Queensland Country Life). However, there was strong evidence to suggest that those who have eczema were more likely to control the condition if they ate organic diary products (Queensland Country Life).

The organic summary (at least for 2012 !)

I hold my hands up, this is not a deep post. But from a scan of resources, I cannot see any strong evidence to suggest that organic food is healthier.

If it is grown in natural conditions it is bound to taste nicer. But lets flip this on one side: our body is an amazing instrument (whatever you want to call it) that can get rid of a lot of bad stuff. Let’s put it another way, look back to the last time you had an alcoholic beverage.

What does alcohol do to you?

You took this harmful compound (alcohol). It made you urinate more than you usually do (it does this because it contains vasopressin). It switches off part of our (long-term) memory (which is why you do not always remember the whole night after heavy drinking) and makes our liver work hard. But the important thing to note is that our bodies can get rid of this harmful compound. Our bodies are amazing. After a few days everything is back to normal, right? That headache is gone because there is no more vasopressin: loosing a lot of water causes the brain to shrink — this is what makes your head sore (a headache).

So the important thing to note is that non-organic foods may have chemicals in them, but they are not something our amazing bodies cannot control. A good rinse under water cleans the surface, right?

If you could buy a packet of organic apples tomorrow for a few pounds (Euros or dollars) it might be better to put the packet down and buy normal ones as well as another fruit. This is an extra piece of nutritional goodness for the price of one!

I hope that more research will be done in this area within the coming years. What are your views? What have you heard?

Organic Food: Truths and Fables. The New York Times. (Sept. 14, 2012) Opinion and Editorial: pNA(L).